Calvary Road Baptist Church

(Preached at Bharatpur, Nepal)

“KNOWING THE REMEDY FOR SIN”

Psalm 119.9 

Let me take you into the distant past, to another time when the Word of God was neglected. We travel back to a time long after the passing of King David (who ruled Israel 3,000 years ago), and after the passing of King Solomon, and even after the death of good King Hezekiah. We look back to a day when the Word of God was, as in the present day in my country, for all intents and purposes, lost to rulers and leaders of the land.

Notice how God, in His providence, set the stage for events to unfold as we begin reading in Second Kings 22.1: 

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem.” 

King Josiah ascended to the throne at eight and died in combat at 39. However, our interest is in the events that took place when he was 26 years old, beginning in verse 3: 

3  And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,

4  Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:

5  And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,

6  Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

7  However, they were not reckoned with for the money that was delivered to their hands because they dealt faithfully. 

The Temple that had been built by Solomon in Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem centuries before was in a sad state of repair, reflecting the spiritual condition of the people. King Josiah, recognizing the importance of the Temple as a symbol of God's presence, sent a trusted assistant named Shaphan with instructions for the high priest to arrange for the house of the LORD to be repaired. Pay careful attention to the conversation the high priest had with the king’s assistant, and what happened next, verse 8: 

“And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.” 

Who knows what kind of a mess the Temple was in with its terrible neglect and disrepair? However, it is certain from Hilkiah’s words that he stumbled across something he had never seen before, the Word of God, which he then gave to Shaphan to read.

In verses 9 and 10, we have the record of Shaphan reporting back to the king, informing him about the progress made in fulfilling his assignment. He then made mention of The Book and read it to the king: 

9  And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.

10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 

The historical setting in which this account took place, and the details of this event, strongly suggest that the king, the high priest, and this scribe, had never before seen a copy of the Word of God. It is very likely that other copies were hidden in the hands of devout men in various places, but the men occupying positions of power and authority in the kingdom were not familiar with the Law of God!

The king’s reaction when portions of the Bible were read to him verifies what I have stated to you. Verse 11: 

“And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.” 

Why did he react so strongly? Listen to his own words in verse 13: 

“... great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.” 

Interesting, is it not? Though many evangelicals, Charismatics, and Pentecostals seem always to convey the message that God’s Word makes everyone happy and produces nothing but joy, the reaction of King Josiah when first exposed to the truth of God’s Word had the opposite effect.

I illustrate with the common notion that the gibberish the Pentecostals and Charismatics pretend is the gift of tongues. While they claim the gift of tongues is to be celebrated and rejoiced as a great blessing from God, at the places it is mentioned in the Bible, when God would speak to His people with “men of stammering lips and another tongue” without them properly responding, in Isaiah 28.11-12, Acts 2.4, Acts 10.46, and First Corinthians 14.21, tongues were a warning of God’s impending judgment, not an occasion for celebrating.

As well, what effect did exposure to the truth of God’s Word always have when ministered by God’s Old Testament prophets, when ministered by John the Baptist, when ministered by the Lord Jesus Christ, and when ministered by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and other early Christian era preachers? Every Biblical account of a person’s first honest encounter with the Bible is the same; misery, guilt, fearfulness, and an awareness of condemnation. Why is this so predictably certain? The Bible is that book God has given to guide us to the only remedy for sin.

Please turn in your Bible to the 119th Psalm. When you find your place, I invite you to stand for the reading of our text, Psalm 119.9: 

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” 

The Bible reveals to the unbeliever not only his sin but that his sin separates him from God. The Bible reveals that sin leads individuals down the path to ruin. The Bible reveals that sin damns the soul to Hell. However, until an individual actually reads the Bible, until he actually hears Scriptural truth for the first time, he lives under the fatal delusion that all is well. However, that is not all. Only the Bible contains the truth concerning the remedy for sin.

Though this is obviously a vast subject and of great importance to anyone who fears God’s terrible wrath, allow me to narrowly focus our attention under four headings: 

First, THE BIBLE IDENTIFIES SIN 

In Romans 3.20, the Apostle Paul wrote, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” This explains the reaction of the good King Josiah. King Josiah was undoubtedly a successful and happy young man for the first eighteen years of his reign. He ruled his people in peace and enjoyed all the privileges and prerogatives of his position. Then, one day, his assistant brought the Bible that had been found in the rubbish that filled the Temple and read it to him, breaking his heart and convicting him of his and his people’s sins.

Thus, it is with you, me, and everyone else. Were it not for God’s Word, we would think so many things are normal, reasonable, and natural. Our natural tendency is to live and let live, to each his own, and all I want to do is have some fun. However, the Bible reveals the true nature of sin.

Next, THE BIBLE IDENTIFIES THE PARTIES 

It is thought by the shallow thinkers and atheists of this world that if there is such a thing as sin, it has only to do with the two parties visibly involved. Thus, they imagine a liar’s deception hurts only the person who is misled, while the thief’s grab of another’s property deprives only the one whose property has been stolen. Such thinking is very constricted. It is much like looking through a tube, allowing you to see only what you are intentionally focused on looking at while depriving you of any other consideration in your field of view. But every hunter knows that you are most likely to notice what you are not looking directly at. The danger of such narrow thinking, of course, is that it deludes the sinner concerning the parties who are involved in and affected by his sins.

When the thug strikes another person, there are not only two parties involved in that offense. Not even the atheist restricts the parties involved in an assault to the attacker and the victim, but recognizes the role the government, the community, the tribe, and the family plays as legitimate offended parties. Thus, when someone steals from me, he immediately involves my wife and child, my clan, the community I live in, the county of Los Angeles, the state of California, and even the government of the United States, in what he foolishly believed to be legal business that was only his and mine. Does he not also involve the wife of the man he has attacked, as well as his children? Will the victim’s family not suffer emotional grief and likely material loss from the breadwinner’s inability to provide for his family while he is recuperating from his injuries? Then there is the emotional suffering and grief. Those are sins.

What parties are involved in any sin, then, once it is admitted that God is the Creator and Sustainer of His Creatures? God describes Himself as the Potter, with each of us being the work of His hand, Isaiah 64.8. Being the Creator, the Potter if you will, He possesses ownership rights over that which He creates and sustains. In Leviticus 25.23, God declared that “the land is mine.” In Exodus 13.2, He told the Jews, “whatsoever openeth the womb ... both of man and of beast: it is mine.” Finally, in Exodus 19.2, He declared “all the earth is mine.” Therefore, when we sin against each other, when we harm each other in any way, or violate God’s ownership rights in any way, we damage His property, and we misuse what He has declared to be His. That is wrong. That is misappropriation. That is sin. No wonder King David cried out to God in heartfelt repentance after grievously sinning against others when he said, 

“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.”[10] 

While certainly not denying the wickedness and harm done to Bathsheba and her husband, as well as to his own children by his selfish adultery and murder, David’s repentance shows his recognition of what is usually overlooked when we commit sins, that the severity of our sins against God far outweigh the seriousness of our sins against our fellow human beings.

So you see, responsibility to determine the offended parties when you and I sin is neither yours nor mine. It is God Who decides who the parties to every offense happen to be, and He has decided that sin, by its very nature as an offense to His holiness, is always a crime to which He is the primary offended party.

This universe is His creation, and He created it without sin. This world we live in was originally very good. However, the Bible reveals to us that Adam introduced sin by disobedience, and we have all consequently become sinners. That placed each one of us at odds with God, Who demands that we be holy because He, the Lord our God, is holy.[11] 

Third, THE BIBLE IDENTIFIES THE PENALTY[12] 

“The penalty of sin may be summed up under seven terms, namely “death,” “lost,” “condemnation,” “guilt,” “perdition,” “punishment,” and “eternal.”

First, “death” is the denotative word. Death means separation. Physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body, James 2.26. Spiritual death is the separation of an individual from God, Luke 15.24, John 5.24, Romans 5.12 and 6:23, First Timothy 5.6, First John 3.14, and Revelation. 3.1. And the second death is eternal separation from God, James 1.15 and 5.20, and Revelation 20.14 and 21.8.

Next, “lost” is the descriptive word. The word apollumi means to lose utterly. It is translated “destroy,” “die,” “lose,” “lost,” “marred,” “perish.” For God to “destroy” in Hell is your loss of heaven, Matthew 10.28. To “die” is to lose your earthly existence, John 18.14. To live for self is to “lose” your life in uselessness, Luke 9.24. For the wine skins to be “marred” is to lose your service, Mark 2.22. To “perish” is to lose God’s salvation, John 3.16. To be “lost” is to lose God and your self, Luke 15.17 and 24.

Third, “condemnation” is the judicial word. God’s judgment against sin has been given, especially against the sin of non-belief in Christ, John 3.19 and 16.8, and His final decision, when people will be judged according to their deeds, will be at the Day of Judgment. The day of crisis is passed for we who are believers, for God’s Word declares “Shall not come into condemnation,” John 5.24. But for the ungodly, God is reserving them “unto the day of judgment to be punished,” Second Peter 2.9.

Fourth, “guilt” is the indicative word. There are two words rendered “guilty.” The one means to be held in, to be detained by the lawful authority because of a charge that has been made, hence in danger of having a penalty inflicted. The other word means a great deal more. The word only occurs in Romans 3.19, “subject to the judgment of God.” The sinner because of his sin, is not on probation, but under condemnation.

Fifth, “perdition” is the prospective word. This word points to the irretrievable ruin of those who die in their sins. Remember Judas Iscariot complaining about the “waste” of the precious ointment that Mary poured on Christ? Yet, he became a “son of waste” by his conduct. The words “waste” and “perdition” are one and the term.

Sixth, “punishment” is the conscious word. Christ will say to the goats on the Day of Judgment, “Depart ye into everlasting punishment,” Matthew 26.46.

And seventh, “eternal” is the durative word. One cannot escape the doctrine of eternal punishment without lowering the standard of inspiration. One inspired word, the Greek adjective aionioV, embodies the whole truth. It is used in seven senses in the New Testament:

#1, To the Father it is used to identify Him as the “Eternal God,” Romans 16.26.

#2, To Christ it is used to identify Him as the “Eternal Life,” First John 5.20.

#3, To the Spirit it is used to identify Him as the “Eternal Spirit,” Hebrews 9.14.

#4, To the “past times eternal,” in Romans 16.25, Second Timothy 1.9, and Titus 1.2.

#5, To the “eternal Gospel,” in Revelation 14.6.

#6, To the believer in Christ,

#7, To the unbeliever in his doom, who is said to be

Finally, THE REMEDY IDENTIFIED 

Our text reads, 

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” 

Throughout the long history of God’s dealings with sinful men, the Word of God has always been that guidebook Gospel ministers resort to for clear instruction to sinners concerning the remedy of their sins.

Psalm 119.89 comforts us with the assurance that 

“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” 

Even so, God in His infinite wisdom chose to reveal His precious Word to us gradually, using more than forty human authors who were born along by the Spirit of God to transmit His Word a bit at a time over a span of sixteen centuries.

This means the complete revelation of God’s Word was not available to God’s people until John the Beloved was used to deliver his Revelation of Jesus Christ and the New Testament letters, Gospels, and the book of Acts were brought together. Thus, men of Abraham’s day, men of David’s era, and men of John the Baptist’s day, did not have a complete Bible in their hands.

However, they still knew what their responsibility was for addressing their sin problems, even if they did not fully understand what the Lord Jesus Christ would do for His elect. The example of Abraham served to instruct one and all when 

“he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”[13] 

As additional Bible truth was added to what had been passed on from the patriarchs before the Flood by Noah to succeeding generations, ceremonies and rituals were added by God for the purpose of preparing mankind for the promised Messiah. However, those temporary observations were never meant to replace the means illustrated by Abraham, which is faith. For thousands of years, the human race had known that sin was a barrier to union and communion with God because of His holy nature and our own defiled nature. For thousands of years, humanity had the dim light of ceremony and ritual suggesting that an innocent must die for the guilty and that the benefit is appropriated by faith. For a long time, humanity knew little more than Psalm 119.9, which can be paraphrased, “Deal with your sin by doing what the Bible says to do.”

Then came the day when Jesus, the Son of God, the promised Messiah Who fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies, delivered what the forms and ceremonies only anticipated, when He shed His blood a sacrifice for sin on Calvary’s cruel and rugged cross, the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.

Sinful men understood very, very little along the way. However, we had enough. There was enough truth and just a glimmer of light so that Abraham was saved, and Isaac, and then Jacob. As the prophets began to speak and then to write even more light was shed, along with the Psalms of David and other portions of Scripture. With each additional book, the light of illumination shined a bit brighter, and so long as individuals obeyed what the Bible said, their sin problem was remedied.

Now, of course, we have the completed revelation of God’s Word, and the situation sinners have faced for thousands of years is so much clearer. Sin separates people from God, sin kills them, sin brings condemnation upon everyone. Individuals cannot remedy our own sin issues, but are wholly dependent upon Another, a Substitute who was promised long ago. That Substitute finally came and took the place of sinners at the place of God’s judgment, shedding His blood to wash away our sins.

Who is this Remedy the Bible identifies as the Solution for sinful man’s great problem? It is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Righteous, the sinless Son of the living God, Who left heaven’s glory to take our sins upon Himself and to suffer the penalty God’s holiness demanded for our sins. How is this Remedy to benefit the sinner? The Bible shows it to be faith. It has always been faith. Faith is that means God has ordained by which He communicates to you the benefits of Christ’s saving work on the cross. Salvation from your sins comes if your faith is placed in, if your faith is placed on, if you simply trust, Jesus Christ. That is what the Bible teaches. 

We know the old, old story seems unsophisticated and unappealing to many. However, the only remedy for sin anyone has ever found is the remedy found in the Old Book. The Remedy is tested, tried, and true. The Lord Jesus Christ never fails.

Of course, it gratifies the sinful ego to discover some clever alternative approach to this age-old sin problem. Animism? Hinduism? Buddhism? Islam? Sikhism? Marxism? Maoism? Other forms of atheism? They are all the doctrines of demons advanced by seducing spirits.

There is no workable new approach to this old problem. The remedy for sin is and always has been, and can only be, the blood of Christ. And nothing cleanses the sin-stained soul but the blood of Jesus.

That is why we must turn to the Bible, and only the Bible, to show each person the way to the Lord Jesus: 

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” 

Psychology deals with sin by denying that wrong is wrong, by denying the existence of God, and by pretending guilt is just a misunderstanding. Evolutionists would have us believe that we are barnyard animals, but have no explanation why people who behave like barnyard animals are so desperately guilty.

No. There is a God. You have been created by God with a spiritual core to you, your eternal and undying soul. Thus, when we sin (and we do sin) we are guilty and we feel guilty.

Try as they will to harden their hearts and sear their consciences, the unsaved have still been made in the image and likeness of God. That means everyone’s eternal and undying soul is deeply affected by our sinning, with the unconverted still terribly lost by being cut off from God, and in great need of God’s Remedy.

How do we know what the Remedy is? The Bible. The Bible. Open the Bible! The answer is found here. That is why we preach the Bible! 

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” 

And what will the lost person do if he takes heed thereto according to God’s Word? He will fly to Christ, shown in the Bible to be the Sufficient Savior of sinful men’s souls, and the only Remedy for sin.

__________

[1] Emery H. Bancroft, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, revised edition 1961), page 203.

[2] Ibid., page 204.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., page 205.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., page 206.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid., page 207.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Psalm 51.5

[11] Leviticus 20.7; 1 Peter 1.15, 16

[12] This material taken from Emery H. Bancroft, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, revised edition 1961), pages 209-211.

[13] Genesis 15.6

 

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